Opinion: Peyton Manning To Blame For Patriots Reign?

Tom Brady Owns The AFC

The New England Patriots are the reigning AFC and NFL champions. That rots a lot of people to the core of their very being. But it is and most likely will continue to be a fact at the very least at the AFC level.

The Patriots’ win made Tom Brady the top dog of quarterbacks as he achieved the ultimate milestone. Brady has won the most Super Bowls of all-time with five.

So far this off season New England have been making moves like they lost in the first round of the playoffs. ESPN shows all the new acquisitions they have received.

The blockbuster trade for speedy receiver Brandin Cooks from the New Orleans Saints, the pickup of corner Stephon Gilmore, trade for Dwayne Allen from the Indianapolis Colts and the signing of defensive tackle Kony Ealy stacks the team’s talent pool even more.

Many people believe that this will be the reason the Patriots will repeat to the Super Bowl next year. But Peyton Manning’s retirement truly pushes them to another level.

Amazingly, Brady and Manning were the winners of the AFC Championship eight out of the last 11 seasons. Manning did it with the Colts and the Denver Broncos.

In fact, when the top QBs of this generation are named the first four names are Brady, Manning, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees. After that the names begin to shuffle based on who’s season looks best.

After the retirement of Ray Lewis, who lead the Baltimore Raven’s defense to championships over Brady, Manning was the lone remaining annual obstacle for the Patriots.

Manning outscored Brady in his last three seasons throwing for 103 touchdowns to 94. Crazily enough, the totals include Manning’s worst season with nine TDs.

Manning was Brady’s Joker to his Batman or his Tupac to his Notorious B.I.G.

Some may try to put Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the conversation. Big Ben has been too inconsistent with his play to make a case. He only has thrown for two 30 plus touchdown season while the other two have many more.

When he counted, he was also semi-lackluster during post-season opportunities.

The other top QBs are in the NFC. The Patriots are for all intents and purposes unstoppable in the AFC.

Looking at the field, unless a rookie such as Deshaun Watson falls to a AFC opponent that can pair him with enough weapons to outscore the master, its just not happening.

The quarterbacks in their division the AFC East are fair ( Ryan Tannehill), mediocre (Tyrod Taylor) and miserable (every New York Jets QB on the roster).

Elsewhere, there are fading names such as Phillip Rivers, Alex Smith and Joe Flacco.

This puts Manning’s value on display because even as his body failed him, his mind did not and he was able to out-duel Brady once last time in the 2015 AFC Championship game.

Since that point, New England has had their run of the conference and with their recent moves will continue to do so regardless of who gets injured and as we saw last season who is throwing the ball.